


Taeil the Sexy: a tale of demons, slayers and witches

by yanjunslut



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Demon Slayer AU, Demons, M/M, Witch!Donghyuck, Witch!Jaehyun, Witches, demon slayers, demon!doyoung, jungwoo is a flirt, markhyuck can't stand each other, witch!Mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanjunslut/pseuds/yanjunslut
Summary: Well fuck, Jaehyun's always been a sucker for Bad Boys. Whoever said a demon was too far off that scale?Doyoung pouts, doe eyes focused on Jaehyun. “Please, can you set me free now?”Jaehyun hums. “No, I don’t think I will.”“WHAT?” Doyoung screams.Donghyuck and Mark decide to summon a demon, then proceed to throw themselves at an almost-engaged demon slayer. Jaehyun uses his witch powers for culinary exploration. Taeyong deals with a crush on an irritating japanese weeb. It's 127 barely keeping their wits about them.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo/Lee Taeyong/Nakamoto Yuta, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 27
Kudos: 187





	1. no, mark does not have an std, thank u hyuck

**Author's Note:**

> saw a tumblr prompt with witches fighting with a tarantula's involvement and this came up so yes

"My dreams…when I see people, it tells me who they truly are.”

Mark crosses his arms over his chest, throwing a steely look at Donghyuck. “And what does it say about me?”

“It says you’re a lying bitch for stealing my sandalwood incense from Nepal, Mark Lee, my tarantula _saw_ you come in my room- give it BACK!”

“Make me!” Mark sticks his tongue out, then leaps backwards as Donghyuck lunges for him, by some trick of the gods managing to miss landing on every lit candle strewn across the floor. He plunges his hand into Donghyuck’s tarantula’s tank, flexing his hand over it. “One step closer and I’ll _squash_ him!”

“You’re sick,” Donghyuck hisses, curling backwards.

Mark grins triumphantly.

“Whatever.” Donghyuck rolls his eyes. Mark Lee is nothing if not infuriating at the best of times. Truthfully, Donghyuck knows himself to be infinitely more antagonistic than Mark; sure, Donghyuck did start _at least_ ninety-eight percent of their fights (this particular retaliation was due to Donghyuck telling Mark’s latest fling that Mark had contracted herpes recently), but it was only because he couldn’t stand the girl.

And the one before that.

And every other person, female or male, human or otherwise- Donghyuck did not like a single one of them… for reasons he couldn’t identify. He _especially_ didn’t like Mark.

He lets Mark watch quietly as he opens up their spell books and opens the jars of the various ingredients, counting out “six frogs legs, one scratch of dragon’s scale, three finger bones, one organ-”

“Orgasm!” Mark barks.

“ORGAN!”

“Oh.”

“Annoying ass bitch,” Donghyuck curses silently.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, oh my god. Come here.”

Mark huffs but graciously allows the spider to live a natural life, instead crossing the room to take a seat on the carpet in front of Donghyuck. “Let’s just get this over with.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

“Ho-ly-shit.”

Mark and Donghyuck drag twin shocked stares away from the glowing pentagram to make eye contact for one electric, terrifying moment of sheer satisfaction.

“Fuck,” whispers Mark. “I can’t believe it worked.”

“Uh, hello? Spit it out, I don’t have all day!”

The two turn back to the pentagram, eyes travelling upward to the figure in the midst of flames glaring daggers at them.

“Well?”

“Uh… uh… we-”

“Shut up you blithering idiot.”

Mark does so.

“We didn’t really think it this far through,” Donghyuck intervenes cautiously. “No disrespect, of course… uh…”

“Doyoung,” the demon announces haughtily. He looks condescendingly down at the two, unimpressed. “So what are you after? Want anyone dead? End a career? Want to be famous? You’d make a pretty idol,” Doyoung comments, jutting his chin to Donghyuck, who smiles smugly while Mark frowns.

“Well, no-”

“Oh, _I know_ ,” Doyoung carries on, “you want a love spell.”

“EW!”

The boys spring apart, gagging for a minute before getting their shit back together. When Donghyuck is certain he won’t throw up and Mark is sure his head won’t burst, they turn back.

“God, no,” Mark mutters, as Donghyuck cheerfully says, “I’d rather die!”

Doyoung smiles icily. “I can make that happen.”

“Can make what happen?”

All three of them spin around to find Jaehyun in the doorway, a polite yet questioning expression on his handsome face. He still wears an apron and oven mitts- a pretty peach colour, his favourite- and the strangely delicious scent of cooking cake and beef wafts around him.

Doyoung stares.

By all accounts, he had not anticipated someone with such a _criminally perfect_ face to enter the room after being faced with two idiot youths. From the perfectly tousled warm brown curls to the buttons of his shirt just visible where the apron dips (a targeted attempt on Doyoung’s life?) - revealing a heroic effort to keep the shirt from bursting open over his chest (tiddies?) and shoulders- Doyoung is equally turned on and angry that someone so good looking has dared to look at him without prior notice.

He attempts to fix his hair in the mirror across the room, swatting flames away as he does.

“Cat got your tongue?”

Doyoung snarls. “I’ll bite yours off.”

Jaehyun grins cheekily. “Wild but I like that.”

“Okay, ew,” Donghyuck sniffs, getting to his feet. He ignores Mark’s extended hand, leaving the grumbling black-haired witch to get to his feet of his own accord.

“Can someone just ask me for a favour so I can get the fuck out of here? Or even back to hell at this rate,” Doyoung complains exasperatedly.

Jaehyun purses his lips, eyeing the younger two boys. “What kind of favour?”

“Nothing sexual,” Doyoung hisses.

“I would never ask that,” Jaehyun says seriously. “And neither would my sons.”

“Not your son,” Donghyuck and Mark mutter together.

“Oookay…” Doyoung knits his brows. “Then… can I go? You can just set me free I won’t cause trouble or anything.”

A minute passes as Jaehyun takes in Doyoung’s clear brown eyes, fluffy jet black hair (now why is a demon this cute? How is this on brand?) and distractingly large shoulders. The pleading expression on the demon’s face is deceptively innocent, and Jaehyun’s heart flutters a little.

Well fuck, he’s always been a sucker for Bad Boys. Whoever said a demon was too far off that scale?

Doyoung pouts, doe eyes focused on Jaehyun. “Please, can you set me free now?”

Jaehyun hums. “No, I don’t think I will.”

“WHAT?” Doyoung screams.

“Jaehyun, WHAT?”

The demon leans as far as he can through the flames, trying impossibly to grab at Jaehyun, who safely remains in the doorway, chuckling.

“COME ON! You can’t keep me here!”

“Actually I can,” Jaehyun’s eyes turn to crescent moons. “It’s always best to think before acting. I have to finish my cooking and eat dinner! We have guests.”

He ushers Donghyuck and Mark out of the room, closing the door on Doyoung’s shrieked insults behind them.

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

The doorbell rings. Mark, lying on the couch, jumps with a start as Jaehyun shakes him by the shoulders. “Mark? Okay, you’re back- Hyuck, go get the door. Fuck around as much as you can.”

Donghyuck salutes. “Yes sir.”

He waltzes down the long hall, singing lazily at the top of his voice. When he reaches the front door, he flings it open and dashes out, closing it behind him.

“Hey, kid,” smiles a tall, friendly man with a giant weapon strapped to his back. “I’m Johnny.”

Johnny holds his hand out for Donghyuck to shake, and he does so, deciding the vibes are good enough. “Donghyuck.”

“Nice to meet you. And this is my boyfriend, Taeil.”

“Just go with co-worker,” a man steps out of the shadow of Jaehyun’s beloved cherry blossom tree, dusting pink petals off the shoulders of his leather jacket. “Learn to be professional.”

Johnny laughs good-naturedly. “I’m tryin’, baby.”

“What did I _just_ say!”

Donghyuck’s gaze trails over Taeil’s face unabashedly. A sexy line of piercings ranging from diamonds and silver sings dot his ears, and Donghyuck’s salivating over his sexy undercut and the way pieces of red hair fall sexily into his piercing or perhaps just angry- but still very sexy- brown eyes.

Donghyuck decides the only course of action is to throw himself at this man.

“I’m in love with you.”

Taeil wrinkles his nose. “What are you- stop messing around. We’re here for the demon.”

Internally, Donghyuck tries to cope with the rejection. A two-second-post-confession-rejection? That cut deep, honestly, and Donghyuck was rarely honest with anyone, not even himself, and wait, “demon?”

“We’re demon slayers!” Johnny announces enthusiastically, thumbing back at the giant sword? Chainsaw? Whatever that thing is. He prattles on, ignoring Taeil’s death stare, which Donghyuck imagines is a regular thing for them. “Our demon tracker pinged right here, so we’ve come to collect! Where is the evil creature?”

Donghyuck is taken aback. “D- uh demon tracker? That was remarkably quick- INNACURATE! It’s inaccurate, we don’t have any demons here.”

The disbelieving stares of the two men send a hot bolt of fear through Donghyuck- and something else because Donghyuck is _squirming_ at the sight of annoyed Taeil- and he smiles the fakest of fake smiles he can muster.

“I’m going in,” Taeil shoves past Donghyuck and wrenches the door open, pausing only to kick his giant black boots off. This knocks a few centimetres off his height, but the threatening look clearly saying _do not dare bring my height up_ causes Donghyuck to remain uncharacteristically quiet.

He looks up at Johnny as Taeil disappears down the hall. “How long have you guys been together?”

“Five years,” Johnny beams, ruffling Donghyuck’s hair. “I’m thinking of proposing to him soon, actually.”

Donghyuck narrows his eyes. “I hope you’re ready for some competition. I want your man.”

“I sincerely bid you good luck, little Hyuck.”

“I’m not- ugh, whatever.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

“What the hell are you doing?”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, not bothering to struggle against Mark, who has just dragged him into his bedroom and thrown him against the wall, bird brows creased with annoyance.

“Sometimes I think your brows are going to just fly right off your face and up, up, up-”

“Shut up, Hyuck,” Mark does his best to spit the name as a swear word, but Donghyuck’s barely-restrained smile tells him it wasn’t nearly as threatening as he’d hoped. “You know Taeil is exactly my type, back off.”

Donghyuck sneers. “How would I know what your type is when you jump anything that moves?”

“Very funny.”

“He has a boyfriend anyway and you don’t have the ability to seduce such a top-tier specimen of male beauty.”

Mark scoffs. “As far as I can remember you’ve been single for like… hmm, literally _forever_. I can take the big guy.”

He backs off Donghyuck and exits the room, heading back to the lounge room.

Donghyuck exhales, pressing a hand to his chest. Mark has the _most_ annoying way of taking his breath away at intensely crucial times. He turns to his mirror, carefully rearranging his gold curls. He frowns. If only he had time to straighten his hair so he could push it back off his forehead. That was generally a sure winner for seduction if Donghyuck remembered correctly.

Not that he ever dated anyone per say. Mark wasn’t lying; Donghyuck is the fussiest motherfucker on earth- Mark’s words actually, but they deeply resonated with Donghyuck. He is fussy, and in his own opinion a total package… but no one ever measures up to what he wants.

Everyone is just so… boring. So conflict free. So not the fifteen-thousand-words-of-enemies-to-lovers fanfiction that Donghyuck has been craving ever since he was a Young Thirteen Year Old Gay reading anything in the genre that he could get his hands on as he huddled with a firefly in the sheets of his shitty little coven dorm every night. He never found love in that coven, which was burned down by witch-hunters when he was seventeen. Donghyuck was rather heroically rescued by Jaehyun, who is of course extremely good looking but has rejected his advances on multiple occasions (and insists upon referring to both he and Mark as his sons).

But Donghyuck thrives off arguing and antagonising everyone in sight, so he gave up on Pure-Hearted Jaehyun and turned all of his attention to Mark, another witch-refugee Jaehyun had brought home. If Donghyuck couldn’t have his fanfiction boyfriend, at least he had one Very Annoying Mark Lee to mess with.

He sighs, checking his appearance one last time. “Showtime.”

Donghyuck closes the door behind him and walks back up the hall. He pauses as he passes his own bedroom, hearing some very angry muttering from within. “Fuck, the demon.”

The reply comes muffled through the door. “I heard that you sadistic son of a half-beaten-”

Donghyuck hurries down the rest of the hall and closes that door too, hastily walking through the kitchen to the lounge room.

There, in plain, disgusting sight, is Mark Lee boldly perched on the arm of the lounge seating the demon slayers, laughing with his head thrown back and slapping his thigh as he does so, no doubt an attempt to draw Taeil’s eye to his incredibly thick, toned-

“Recovered from your nasty case of gonorrhoea yet?”

Mark flushes scarlet. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He swings round wildly, eyes searching the demon slayers’ faces frantically. “I do not- I do NOT have g-go- I don’t- god I can’t even say it-”

“Hyuck, what did I say about spreading rumours about Mark and his sexual health?”

Jaehyun enters the lounge room, balancing a tray of pink frosted cupcakes and directing an admonishing glance Donghyuck’s way before smiling at their guests. “Can I interest you in a cupcake?”

Johnny reaches for one eagerly, only to pout as Taeil’s arm shoots out to stop him.

Taeil squints, running a hand through his hair. “What have you put in these? Drugs? Who do you think you’re playing here, Pretty Boy?”

“Oh my god, he’s so hot,” Donghyuck moans, fanning his face.

Mark glares.

Johnny smiles as Jaehyun slips his hand under Taeil’s arm to pass a cupcake. He bites into it, grinning happily.

“I’ll throw you into the middle of next week, buddy.”

Jaehyun arches an eyebrow as he smirks down at Taeil, flexing his arm holding the tray up. “We’ll see about that.”

“Take a bite,” Taeil orders.

Without hesitation, Jaehyun lifts a cupcake and bites into it.

Taeil waits a few seconds, eyeing him carefully. “And another.”

Jaehyun shrugs and takes another. He chews with his gaze set daringly on the demon slayer, then swallows with an air of finality. “Satisfied?”

Taeil sniffs. “I’ll take one.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

Two minutes later, Johnny and Taeil lean against the couch, heads knocked together and snoring loudly.

Jaehyun whistles. “Mark’s powers of foresight come in handy once again. Suspiciously accurate with the cupcakes you said Taeil would choose… have you been practising your skills?”

“Skill, not plural,” Donghyuck corrects. “And if you’re gonna hone your mystical prophetical powers would you mind telling me something important like when I’m gonna get a boyfriend?”

Mark smiles tightly. “Can’t foresee something that’s never gonna happen.”

“Shut up.”

“No, you.”

The doorbell rings once more, and Jaehyun freezes in his tracks. He sets a plate of meat down on the table and pulls off his oven mitts. “They’re early. Why the fuck are they early?”

“They’re never early,” Mark remarks blandly.

Jaehyun bites his lip. “Okay, Mark, go get the door. Hyuck- help me move the bodies.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

“Taeyong stop being so impatient, he’s probably just getting everything in order. You know how Jaehyun is about his meals. Not to mention you dragged us here like twenty minutes early.”

Yuta leans against Jaehyun’s front door, staring up at the fading sunset. He crosses his arms over his black hooded-jacket, long black hair hanging over his eyes.

Frowning, Taeyong leans on tip-toe to pull Yuta’s hood off. “For the last time, there is nothing wrong with being punctual,” he glares, brushing Yuta’s hair out of his eyes. “And what have I told you about going cross-eyed from all of this hair in your vision?”

“Most faeries I encounter are so laid back and ready to fuck and party why are you such a nagging housewife?” Yuta smirks, and adds a mock whisper, “I think you need to get laid.”

Taeyong slaps Yuta’s upper arm, relishing the whimper the other man lets out. Yuta’s running commentary and/or criticism of Taeyong’s strange life path is not a new thing. In a complete 180 from most faerie lifestyles, Taeyong had made the abnormal decision to live mostly as a human. He attended a university and had a job at an on-campus café, and his roommate happened to be a Japanese transfer student with a full-blown anime obsession.

Actually, that was the very first thing Yuta had said to Taeyong: that he looked straight out of a manga. Yuta told him regularly how beautiful he was, and Taeyong hadn’t known how to deal with it other than to shush him. Three months in to their rooming together, Taeyong drunkenly confessed to being a faerie… a mistake in his eyes, for more reasons than he cared to dwell on.

Seven months in now, Taeyong spends his time trying to act as human as he can while nursing one giant problem: his big fat crush on his madly annoying, gorgeous roommate.

Not what he wanted in life but when does anything ever work out neatly for Taeyong?

“Psst.”

Taeyong blinks, dragged out of his reverie from a new voice.

“Hi, over here.”

Silently as a cat, a figure drops down from the branches of the cherry blossom tree. He stands to full height, tall and elegant, towering over Taeyong and Yuta. His blonde hair shines in the moonlight, full lips forming a coy smile. He prowls toward them, carelessly playing with his sheer black shirt.

“I’m Jungwoo,” the newcomer says airily. He winks. “I’m gonna need a favour from you two.”

Taeyong scrunches his nose. “Uh… no.”

“You’re so attractive,” Yuta’s practically salivating, to Taeyong’s annoyance. “You could totally be-”

“An anime character,” Taeyong finishes for him. He mutters, “you’re such a fucking weeb.”

“You can’t be a weeb if you’re Japanese!” Yuta protests.

“I can smell the desperation,” sighs Taeyong. He raps on the door once again.

Jungwoo laughs. “You two are cute. Anyway, can you open the back door for me in say, ten minutes? I have a friend I need to see.”

Taeyong squints. “Who? Donghyuck?”

“Uhh… yes. Donghyuck, of course.”

Yuta nods in understanding. “Who else would sneak someone in?”

The sound of footsteps from inside the house grabs all their attention, and Jungwoo goes round-eyed, edging away from them.

“You never saw me,” Jungwoo whispers, vanishing round the side of the house.

The door opens and Mark stands in the doorway, smiling fading to concern as he takes in the confusion on Yuta and Taeyong’s faces. “Uh… wanna come in?” 


	2. bargains and proposals, amongst other nonsense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jaehyun is to determined to negotiate with taeil to save doyoung's life; love affairs get a little out of hand
> 
> a part 2 to wrap up the mess markhyuck created in summoning a demon into jaehyun's tidy home :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said uploading soon and then miss corona fully hit and everything went to shit but here's roughly 6k to complete the tale please enjoy and don't hate me for taking so long fjhhghhg <333

Donghyuck slumps against Mark’s window seat, attempting to choke himself with the curtains. He’d searched for Mark’s pet rat for ten minutes before getting bored, certain that Mark had been working well enough on his invisibility charms and the like, for he hadn’t seen a trace of it.

“Why did I have to get shoved into your stupid room,” he complains instead, kicking at an empty shoebox on the floor. “Stupid Jaehyun with his stupid punishments. I have my own room too, jeez.”

“There is literally a demon in your room right now. Not to mention the demon hunters,” Mark adds from his place flopped on the carpet. “On second thought, perhaps locking the demon slayers in a room with a demon was not the smartest idea.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “None of my concern.”

“It might be if they get into a fight and burn down your room.”

“I will knife anyone who so much as dares to-” He leaps up from the window and rushes across the room to bang on the door for the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes. “JUNG! JAE! HYUN! LET ME OUT!”

_“Not until you’ve reflected on your behaviour!”_

“That’s preposterous!”

“Ooo big words,” Mark snarks.

“Shut up!”

_“See that’s the kind of thing you need to reflect on!”_

“UGH!”

Donghyuck heads back to the window seat with a sigh. It is absolutely none of his fault that Taeil is sexy: he had no option but to throw himself at the demon slayer. In fact, Donghyuck was certain he’d spotted a hint of tattoo under the sleeve of his leather jacket earlier, which pretty much required one to, so-

 _Focus, Donghyuck._ The quicker he cools down the faster Jaehyun will free them. What Jaehyun _really_ wants from them is an apology, but he knows better than to expect that from either of the two. 

_Knock, knock, knock._

Donghyuck frowns.

_Knock, knock, knock, KNOCK-_

“Donghyuck, knock it OFF!”

“It’s not me, what the fuck!”

“Psssst. PSSSST!”

Donghyuck flings the curtains open. Staring inside is a blonde haired man with a pleading expression on his face, a demon likely from the way he’s hovering on the windowsill.

“Donghyuck!”

Donghyuck flinches. “How did you know my name?”

“I’ll tell you if you let me in.”

Mark comes to stand behind Donghyuck, arms crossed over his chest. He juts his chin out at the newcomer as Donghyuck begins unwinding the window.

“You finally got so tired of being alone your hired a hooker? Wait till Jaehyun hears about this.”

Donghyuck shoves the window the rest of the way, moving for the demon to slip inside. “I’m not desperate,” Donghyuck snaps, ignoring the fact that he, indeed, quite desperate.

“And I’m not a hooker. I’m Jungwoo,” Jungwoo smiles happily, extremely cutely for someone so tall, and in a sheer shirt and such tight pants no less. “Although I did strip a few years ago.”

Mark whistles.

“Anyway, your friends told me your name. Well… they asked if I was here to see you and I just said yes because I needed a way in. They seemed busy from my view of the dining room.”

Donghyuck squints. “Are you one of Jaehyun’s old hook-ups? Because I understand it’s very easy to fall in love with him- yes, I know this from my own heartfelt experiences- but Jaehyun can’t reciprocate the feelings of _every_ person who-”

“I don’t even know who Jaehyun is.”

“What?”

Mark blinks. “Then who are you here for?”

“Doyoung,” Jungwoo exhales resignedly. “I … sensed him.”

“Liar,” Donghyuck accuses. “I know a lot about demons and they cannot sense each other from that far away, no way.”

Jungwoo sighs. “Fine, I put a tracker spell on him. Hold on… you two summoned him didn’t you? You seem chaotic enough. Doyoung got banished to hell for mouthing off at someone who hurled… lewd comments at me.”

“That’s a bit extreme…”

“Ah. Doyoung might’ve… killed the demon who did it.”

Mark and Donghyuck squeak in shock.

“Look, it’s not _permanent_ , he just went back to hell but unfortunately he was with another very angry demon who killed Doyoung in return while I…”

Mark smirks. “While you ran away.”

“Jungwoo!” Donghyuck gasps, hands flying to his mouth.

Jungwoo sits down on the window seat, Donghyuck sitting beside him as Mark pulls his desk chair over.

“Yes, I ran away, and it was a shitty thing to do but in the past four years I have _grown_ -”

“Wait. Four years.”

Jungwoo bites his lip. “I know.”

“So you want him back?” Donghyuck makes a noise of interest. “That’s very romantic. Isn’t that romantic, Mark?”

“I guess.”

“Oh, no, no.” Jungwoo shakes his head, laughing. “No, we just had really, _really_ mind blowing sex. I miss his-”

“JUNGWOO!”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

Doyoung narrows his eyes at the two men across the room. Clearly, it wasn’t enough for Jaehyun to keep him in this measly little room- Donghyuck’s he figured, judging by the giant “fullsun” splashed across the walls in bright paint- but he also had to throw in his arch nemesis: demon slayers.

He wonders if he’d come into contact before, maybe done something to annoy Jaehyun. Doyoung is good at annoying people.

_Wait, no. I’d definitely remember a face like that._

“When I get out of these ropes you will bleed black filth all over the floor.”

Doyoung watches Taeil, still struggling after thirty minutes to break free of his bonds and thrust his weapon right through Doyoung’s chest. Doyoung wonders how he isn’t tired yet.

He says as much aloud, adding, “is he this energetic in bed?”

Taeil snarls.

His boyfriend, Johnny, who had been kind enough to introduce them, laughs heartily. “Don’t provoke him too much or he will find some way out of those ropes terrifyingly fast and I won’t be able to help you.”

“As if you would anyway, demon slayer!”

“Touché.”

Doyoung considers the implications of the man’s previous statements. The current predicament: if Taeil does manage to break free, he can kill Doyoung if he doesn’t mind being burned a little (and Doyoung is quite certain Taeil won’t mind at all). Doyoung has less than a metre’s space to move within the pentagram, so he sits down. At this point, Doyoung would even go back to Hell if he could.

Or maybe not. He’s spent long enough down there. He could wait a little longer.

Before Doyoung has time to consider his next move, the door swings open to reveal a grinning Jaehyun, dimples digging deep trenches in his chubby cheeks that make Doyoung _angry_.

“If you’re all prepared to be civilised, you are welcome to join me and my friends for dinner,” Jaehyun invites them cordially. He tugs his shirt sleeves back down over his forearms, covering the veins Doyoung had been ogling. He hasn’t taken off his peach-coloured apron yet, although the mitts are off.

“I-”

“We’d be delighted,” Johnny accepts happily, cutting off his boyfriend.

Taeil directs his fury at Doyoung via a withering glance, which the demon ignores.

“Fine.”

Doyoung blinks, realising he spoke the words aloud. _NO COMPROMISES_ , he screams internally, but thoughts of retracting his agreement disappear when Jaehyun smiles even wider and claps his hands.

Jaehyun murmurs under his breath, too quietly for the others to make out his words. In seconds, the bonds around Taeil and Johnny fall away, and Johnny helps Taeil to his feet carefully, keeping a hand round the red-haired man’s wrist to prevent him from running to murder Doyoung in his pentagram jail cell.

“Right down the hall, sit at the table wherever you like,” Jaehyun orders, waving his hand casually. “And don’t think about leaving. The food isn’t drugged but I’ve spelled every exit in the house so you’re not going anywhere fast.”

“No-good lawless beings,” Taeil mutters, not seeming particularly partial to witches. Nevertheless, he allows Johnny to lead him away without fussing any further.

Jaehyun cocks an eyebrow at Doyoung.

“Well?”

Doyoung glares. “I said fine.”

“But do you mean it?”

“Does it matter?” Doyoung sighs. He remains on the floor, lips forming a pout around his words. “You said you spelled the doors anyway.”

Jaehyun beams. “I did. I’m quite a good witch, you know. But I prefer… consent and all that. Don’t you think we’d both be more comfortable about the situation if we go about this in a friendlier manner?”

“You say this like Taeil isn’t here to kill me.” Doyoung knits his brows together. “Johnny, too, although I quite like him. Not healthy.”

Jaehyun crosses the room now, and Doyoung’s eyes widen as the witch sits down in front of him. He crosses his legs and runs a hand through his hair, which he seems to do at least thirty times a minute.

Sort of endearing, Doyoung hates to admit.

“I won’t let you die, Doyoungie.” The corners of Jaehyun’s eyes turn up as he smiles again, so Doyoung swallows his initial distaste at the nickname. “We will have a nice meal and then everyone will go home happily. Trust me. I’m very convincing.”

Oh, Doyoung knows.

“And are you as good at cooking as that apron getup would have me believe?”

Jaehyun allows a small amount of smugness to seep into his smile. “I’m good at everything.”

“A simple yes would have sufficed.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

In the roughly five minutes that Jaehyun takes to release Doyoung from the pentagram and escort him down the hall, the dining room has descended into utter chaos.

Taeyong sits face down in his bowl, pink hair sticking up in all different directions. On either side of him, Johnny and Yuta sit, conversing with a blonde man whose face Jaehyun cannot see from the doorway. Taeil is back on the couch, this time with Donghyuck and Mark flanking him and tipping back shot glasses filled with alcohol Jaehyun notes is from his specially altered collection judging by the green glow of the liquid.

“ _Donghyuck_ ,” Jaehyun admonishes the younger in shock, letting go of Doyoung’s arm.

Donghyuck looks up in surprise, mouth dropping open as he thumbs at Mark. “Was Mark.”

“Was _not_ ,” Mark slurs, head rolling onto Taeil’s shoulder. Taeil, seeming significantly happier with some alcohol in him, simply pats the younger man’s head softly.

Jaehyun locks eyes with Yuta, deciding the human to be the most sober at this time. He jerks his head towards the two escapees. “Did you let those two out of Mark’s room?”

“Sorry,” Yuta apologies only half-sincerely. “They were banging on the wall to be let out and then their hot friend was there and I couldn’t say no. Besides, Taeyong doesn’t know how to loosen up without alcohol, and they said you had good stuff.”

“I am also partial to a relaxing massage,” Taeyong corrects with a hiccup, lifting his head from the bowl. He reddens and covers his mouth with a hand hidden in a sweater paw.

Yuta looks at him fondly.

“What hot friend?” Jaehyun frowns, eyeing the blonde again.

The figure turns around, a sheepish expression on his face that takes over his entire body as he looks to Jaehyun.

“Jungwoo,” Jungwoo swallows nervously. “I was just looking for… Doyoung.”

Doyoung stares at him, frozen.

Jaehyun glances between them. “You know each other?”

He realises, judging by the unbothered expressions on the others’ faces, that Jungwoo must have already explained his situation to them.

“I’ll kill you,” Doyoung says, launching himself in a cloud of black smoke across the room. He reappears in front of Jungwoo where he proceeds to strangle him until Jungwoo comes to his senses and disappears in a purple cloud away from Doyoung, now clinging to Yuta and Taeyong for dear life.

Doyoung grits his teeth and prepares to give chase, only for Jaehyun to snap his fingers- leaving Doyoung suspended in place.

Johnny appears to be very impressed. 

“Back to me,” Jaehyun claps his hands. He waits for everyone’s attention before announcing, “I am holding an intervention. We’re going to solve every problem right now to clear the air in the room.” He inhales slowly, then exhales even slower. “Everyone will feel better after this.”

Taeil makes a face.

“ _Or everyone will stay in this house until they do_ ,” Jaehyun says threateningly, and for the first time even Taeil looks slightly rattled.

They sit around the lounge room, Johnny and Taeil sitting in front of the larger couch, with Donghyuck sitting next to Taeil immediately, followed by Mark, Taeyong, Yuta and Jungwoo. Doyoung and Jaehyun sit on the double-seater lounge behind them, only half in the circle because Doyoung has “back troubles” (Jaehyun just didn’t want to sit on the floor).

“Right, first order of business,” Jaehyun begins, looking at Taeil. “You can’t kill Doyoung.”

Taeil rolls his eyes. “It’s my _job_.”

“Well-”

“Quiet Johnny,” Taeil orders, still facing Jaehyun. “I’m not being put out of a job because a neutrally aligned witch prefers to trade in politics for dick.”

Johnny sighs.

“That is not…” Jaehyun finds Doyoung’s large eyes on him, the demon appearing keenly interested in Jaehyun’s words. “… _entirely_ true…”

“Aha!” Taeil crows.

Donghyuck and Mark grimace.

Jaehyun frowns. “Be that as it may, good demon slayers only kill really bad demons. Doyoung did nothing wrong.”

“Doyoung committed murder,” Taeil states simply.

“It was self-defence,” Jungwoo pipes up, face pale.

“Don’t you start,” Doyoung snaps at the blonde, narrowing his eyes. “I’m on trial _again_ after four years in Hell and this is all your fault, you little _leech_.”

Jaehyun looks imploringly at Doyoung. “He’s trying to _save_ you this time, let him have his redemption arc.”

Doyoung huffs, but folds his arms over his chest and says nothing.

“The fact is,” Jaehyun continues, “that you’re meant to pursue demons with evil intentions and the like, not… not whatever Doyoung is. There has to be worse demons on the run.”

“Exactly, there are a great many of us who are quite bad,” Jungwoo offers.

Doyoung reaches down to smack him across the back of his head.

“Ow,” Jungwoo pouts.

Yuta wraps an arm round the blonde’s shoulders, glaring at Doyoung over Jungwoo’s head, which Doyoung pretends not to see.

“There aren’t,” Taeil says sorrowfully. “I’ve been so bored lately.”

“So bored,” Johnny takes over, “that Taeil made us answer a newspaper ad requesting someone slay the demon Kim Doyoung who was going to get out of Hell sometime this month according to some psychic intel. They paid us a shit ton of money for this.”

Jungwoo gnaws on his lower lip. “What was the name of the person who posted the ad?”

Johnny knits his brows in thought. “Uh… some number, nine-”

“Ten.” Taeil notices Jungwoo’s deflated expression. “You know him?”

“Ten killed me,” Doyoung speaks up. He does his best not to glare daggers at Jungwoo. “I killed his friend for messing around and he wanted revenge.”

Taeil leans back against the couch, rearranging his arms behind his head. “Well, that doesn’t sound like self-defence,” he smiles smugly. “I think I have the right to kill you for being so reckless.”

“I didn’t endanger anyone from the human population _and_ I knew Yangyang would get out within a month anyway,” Doyoung argues back. “He’s sneaky and Ten has connections. Ten is just being extremely petty as always,” he sniffs and shakes his hair out of his eyes. “I refuse to go back to Hell for that.”

Before Taeil can reply, Jaehyun clears his throat.

“If you leave Doyoung alone, I’ll come up with better systems to help you track demons.”

Johnny claps delightedly, nudging his boyfriend. “That’s an _offer_.”

Taeil narrows his eyes. “Is that the only condition?”

“No. You will take a lock of Doyoung’s hair to Ten as proof you killed him.” Jaehyun leans forward in his seat. “Additionally, the systems I come up with will target demons who have actually committed bad crimes. You can’t just axe everyone you see, that’s not conducive to any kind of stability at all.”

“Fine,” Taeil perks up. He reaches out to take Jaehyun’s hand, shaking it firmly. “Deal.”

Donghyuck’s eyes light up at the positive change in the atmosphere, suddenly properly attentive again. He turns to Taeil, leaning his chin on the red-haired man’s shoulder and pouting up at him.

“Now the only thing left for you to do is break up with Johnny and be with me!”

Johnny bursts into hearty laughter, followed by the rest of the circle. Especially Taeil, who wraps an arm round the younger boy as he laughs, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Oh, Hyuckie,” Taeil gasps, clutching a hand to his chest. “I can’t. I’m in love with Johnny, you silly sunflower.”

“ _NO_!” Donghyuck howls. He buries himself in Taeil’s chest, lifting his head only to allow Johnny a glimpse of his rage-filled eyes. “This isn’t _FAIR_!”

Jaehyun tries to cover his mouth with his hand, not wanting to make Donghyuck feel worse, but also recalling memories of Donghyuck crying over himself in the same was as Donghyuck is now crying over Taeil. He meets Doyoung’s eyes, and the pretty demon is also struggling to hold back his own laughter.

“If that’s sorted, I might take this opportunity to confess my love for this beautiful faerie,” Jungwoo bows theatrically to Taeyong, producing a rose from his pocket, to everyone’s surprise and confusion, save Donghyuck, still sobbing into Taeil’s chest. “Love at first sight and all that.”

“Taeyong is too hard-working to give you the time of day,” Yuta teases, laughing as Jungwoo mimes taking an arrow to the heart. “Good luck with that.”

Jungwoo lowers his voice seductively. “And how about you?”

Yuta grins. “Well, you know-”

“NO!”

They freeze, turning to see Taeyong staring at them with his small fists balled up. In his giant sweater, the faerie looks especially tiny, and Yuta and Jungwoo immediately stop messing around.

“What’s wrong, Taeyong?” 

“I’ve had a crush on you since we met, Nakamoto Yuta!” Taeyong’s eyes shine with tears; his lower lip wobbles and Yuta- despite his shock at the outburst- barely holds back from brushing his thumb across it, opting to hear Taeyong out without flustering the faerie further. “I should have told you a long time ago but I’m not forward like Jungwoo, and I’m such an annoying, nagging roommate I _know_ , but I just want the best for you and- and- and the best for you is _not_ missing all your lectures _three weeks in a row_ -”

“I like you,” Yuta interrupts.

“That’s not- what?”

Taeyong ceases his rant to stare at his roommate like a deer caught in headlights. He blinks twice, runs a hand through his pink hair to calm himself down.

Yuta shrugs. “You do nag me all the time. You’re always rushing after me and doing little things for me, with your reminders on the fridge and making me snacks for classes… did you think I’d be immune to all that?”

“I… I don’t…” Taeyong face steadily grows as pink as his hair. “I just didn’t think you would…”

He gives up trying to explain himself and just stares at the floor with his hands in his lap. It was one thing to confess in front of a group of people to having a crush on your irritating paradox of a Japanese weaboo roommate- drunk Taeyong pauses to consider how this is possible once more- but another thing entirely to address all your insecurities and concerns as to whether Yuta really likes him, and what they both think of Jungwoo, and what-

Yuta takes Taeyong’s hands in his, and his brilliant smile instantly dulls Taeyong’s anxiety almost immediately. As it always does.

“How about we talk at home, hey?”

Taeyong nods in relief, feeling overcome with exhaustion almost immediately. He allows his body to relax against Yuta’s side, smiling when Yuta leans his head against his own for a second, long black hair tickling against Taeyong’s cheeks for a moment.

Jungwoo watches them closely, hint of a smile on his lips, but remaining silent.

“So everyone’s going to be together except me,” Donghyuck grumbles, pouting at Taeyong, who now has his eyes closed rather blissfully. “I just think it’s funny how I’m the standard for perfection and yet-”

“Will someone please shut him up,” Taeil jokes, laughing when Donghyuck gasps at the betrayal.

“I can,” Mark says, and before Donghyuck can process the glint in his eyes Mark leans over and plants a kiss on the corner of Donghyuck’s mouth, narrowly missing his lips in full.

Donghyuck reels backward, eyes wide, speechless just as Taeil had requested.

Jaehyun glances between them back and forth, a slight smile forming the longer he looks; Taeil and Johnny turn to each other and smile at the same time, somewhat eerily, while Mark just settles back in his place.

“Well,” Yuta says, breaking the silence, “I should get Taeyong home. He has class tomorrow in the afternoon and I shouldn’t have let him get this plastered.”

Jungwoo stands up as Yuta does, already bending to gather Taeyong up in his arms.

“Oh, I can get him, Woo,” Yuta protests.

“I’m stronger,” Jungwoo says simply, smiling softly as Taeyong winds his arms around Jungwoo’s neck, head falling gently against his chest. Seeing Yuta’s uncertainty, Jungwoo adds, “and besides, I need a place to stay for now. I kinda ran away from that strip club I mentioned earlier and they’re still pretty mad about it.”

Yuta smiles. “You’ll have to take the couch for now,” he says, leading the way down the hall to the front door. He opens it and waits for Jungwoo to pass through to walk by his side up to the car, not bothering to wait for the others to follow.

“We’ll see about that,” Jungwoo proclaims with determination. Yuta opens the car door for him, and together, they lift Taeyong carefully to ease him into the backseat, Jungwoo propping the dainty faerie up and fastening his belt before laying a blanket over the top.

Before Yuta can say anything else, Jungwoo jumps into the passenger seat and winds the window down, smiling cheekily at the group standing by the fence. He singles out Doyoung and points to him. “Don’t worry about me, Doyoung, Yuta and Taeyong will keep me safe!”

Doyoung rolls his eyes, but after a nudge from Jaehyun begins waving while Yuta starts up the car.

Jungwoo beams at Yuta, which Yuta can’t help but return, so he just smiles contentedly and flips the radio switch on, drumming his fingers against the wheel while Jungwoo dances in his seat and leans out the car window like an over-excited puppy to scream goodbye to an amused crowd.

“SEE YOUUUU!”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

Ten minutes later, Johnny observes Taeil begin to droop under his arm as he listens to Donghyuck prattle on about Mark, Mark, Mark. He leans down and presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s temple.

“Time for you to sleep, sweetheart,” Johnny says quietly, relishing the feeling of a sleepy Taeil leaning into his chest. He swipes the keys to their motorbike from Taeil’s pocket. “And I’m driving.”

“No,” Taeil protests, lacking the strength to say anything else.

“Yes,” Johnny kisses his cheek. “You are not falling asleep at the wheel, my love.”

Taeil’s silence speaks to his agreement. He looks back at Donghyuck.

“You should talk to Mark.” Taeil’s eyes are filled with encouragement, his tone serious. “I think you’d be very cute together.”

Johnny nods. “You would be.”

“No,” Donghyuck shakes his head, just as Mark appears in the doorway for a moment, calling to Jaehyun. Mark’s hair is ruffled and wild, and his eyes are hazy, but Donghyuck can’t help but find him incredibly handsome. “We hate- well, we hated each other. Until like. Now. It was just a… spur of the moment type of thing. I think he just wanted me to shut up and-”

“Donghyuck, you’re an idiot,” Taeil says bluntly.

Johnny sighs, dropping a kiss into Taeil’s red hair. Then he takes Donghyuck’s hand and squeezes it. “Taeil is right. People don’t kiss people for no reason, especially if they don’t like them. Taeil used to hate me,” he grins smugly as Taeil rolls his eyes, “but then he realised it was because he thought I was incredibly attractive and he couldn’t deal with such a thing.”

“Be quiet.”

Donghyuck’s brows fly up without the expected denial. Could it be? Does Donghyuck find Mark unbearably attractive? Has he had a crush on him this whole time?

In retrospect, Donghyuck realises that _may_ explain some of his hatred for all of Mark’s past flings.

Only some.

He waves as Taeil and Johnny set back down the path, hand in hand. There’s a large silver motorbike gleaming under the moonlight, and Taeil straps his helmet on first, then straddles the bike behind Johnny while placing a second helmet over Johnny’s head.

As the machine roars to life, Donghyuck finds himself sprinting down the path toward them, hands waving frantically to stop them.

Taeil lifts up his helmet to yell over the engine. “What?”

“WHEN YOU REALISED YOU LIKED JOHNNY,” Donghyuck yells, cupping his hands to his mouth, “DID HE LIKE YOU BACK?”

Belatedly, he thinks how odd the question must sound, given Taeil currently has his arms wrapped round Johnny’s midriff. But Donghyuck doesn’t want to wait forever; he’s waited long enough.

Taeil smiles understandingly. “OF COURSE! WHY _WOULDN’T_ HE?”

With a final wave, Johnny kicks the bike into gear and they set off into the night, leaving Donghyuck barefoot on the gravel path, curls flying wildly in the night wind.

“Why wouldn’t he.” Donghyuck whispers to himself.

He turns and sprints back to the house.

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

When Donghyuck stumbles into Mark’s bedroom, he’s slightly shocked to find it empty. Donghyuck looks in the closet, even gets down on his knees to look under the bed.

Aside from Mark’s rat cage- which Donghyuck realises Mark had glamoured as a shoe box earlier- there is nothing of interest. He crawls back out and pats his hair down, sitting in confusion in the middle of the room for a moment.

Some of Donghyuck’s resolve begins to crumble after two minutes pass and there is still no sign of the black haired witch. With a shaky sigh, Donghyuck gets to his feet and utters a quiet goodbye to the rat before closing the door behind him, feet dragging behind him as he dejectedly walks back to his own room.

He pulls his hoodie over his head as he enters his room, kicking the door shut behind him with a force that leaves the doorframe shaking.

“The one time I fucking- UGH!”

Donghyuck rips the hoodie off completely and flings it at his bed, realising at the last second that Mark is there- and then it hits Mark square in the face.

Slowly, Mark reaches up to pull he garment off himself. He throws it away where it lands somewhere on the end of Donghyuck’s bed, then looks back to Donghyuck.

Donghyuck stares. “What- uh… what are you doing?”

Mark stretches like a cat and rolls onto his side to properly face Donghyuck. “Waiting for you,” he says as it it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He stares up at Donghyuck expectantly, and Donghyuck only just notices his hand dangling into his tarantula’s tank, absently playing with a leaf inside.

“Oh.” Donghyuck steps forward, feeling unnaturally awkward. “Well, you got me.”

Mark arches an eyebrow.

“I mean- I mean here I am,” Donghyuck corrects, cheeks heating up. “Because I’m in my room now and you don’t need to w-”

He cuts himself off, feeling angry that he’s being made to feel like an idiot in his own bedroom and then even angrier at his inability to articulate and then being unsure of _what it is_ that he wants to say-

“Come here.”

Donghyuck blinks.

Mark withdraws his hand from the tank and rolls over once again, creating enough room for the both of them. Donghyuck, as if spelled, finds himself trotting over to the bed and flopping onto it.

He rolls over to face Mark, wishing he’d left his hood on to hide his face in. But alas.

“What,” he mumbles grumpily.

Mark smiles, trying his best not to laugh outright.

“Stop it,” Donghyuck snaps, reaching out to grab Mark’s face in an attempt to rearrange his face into solemnity. Under Donghyuck’s grip, Mark begins to squirm, and then to giggle, grabbing at Donghyuck’s hands frantically.

“Stop, stop,” Mark begs, giggling non-stop. His legs kick out, and Donghyuck notices Mark’s mismatched monster and cupcake socks- an old habit; ever since Donghyuck had known him, Mark preferred to mismatch them.

 _“One for each mood,”_ Mark had told him when they first met, eagerly showing off the ones he wore at the time: blue stegosaurs and a multi-coloured spotty sock. Donghyuck hadn’t understood his meaning back then, and proceeded to do what he does whenever he feels stupid: make fun of Mark.

Looking down at the socks now, Donghyuck only finds himself smiling fondly. When he looks back up at Mark, the black haired boy’s face mirrors the same warmth as his own.

“Because Jaehyun made us cupcakes today,” Mark shrugs.

Donghyuck bites his lip. “Real slick with the monster socks, huh. Your foresight… you knew.” He shakes his head. “Nice heads up to Jaehyun.”

Mark is unbothered. “You knew we were summoning a demon today.”

“Fair.”

They stay silent for a few moments. Donghyuck does his best to slow his breathing, to slow his heart rate down some, but with Mark’s eyes roving all over his face Donghyuck decides to hell with it all.

“So… what else did you see?”

Mark’s eyes flick upward to meet Donghyuck’s curious ones.

“Are you asking for anything in particular?”

Donghyuck sniffs. “You know full well what I’m asking.”

Mark lets out a bark of laughter. He pushes himself up onto his forearms, and Donghyuck fixes on the lock of inky hair that falls over Mark’s eyes as Mark hovers over him.

“How about I show you?” Mark murmurs, thinking how pretty Donghyuck looks with his golden curls splayed over his blue pillow, his bitten red lips parted in anticipation and a tinge of fear; thinking about how pretty Donghyuck always is, even in his most irritating moments.

Donghyuck only exhales shakily, blinking up at Mark.

“Are you okay, Hyuckie?”

And with that nickname, all of Donghyuck’s fears are dashed. Because it’s Mark with him, it’s Mark lying beside him, running his hand through Donghyuck’s curls like he used to when they were small and Donghyuck had been too scared of witch-hunters to push the other boy away just yet. And through all of their intense bickering, the same sense of familiarity and safety was always there. Mark was enough for Donghyuck’s subconscious to feel relaxed in the knowledge that despite their conflicts, Mark would always be there for him, always is, every bit as much as Jaehyun is.

Mark is… home.

“How long?”

Mark’s smile grows under Donghyuck’s gaze; the warmth in his eyes is enough to melt Donghyuck inside out.

“Always,” Mark shrugs one shoulder delicately, tilting his head as his lips quirk up. “Just waiting for you.”

Donghyuck paws at Mark’s blue hoodie, fingers hooking into the fabric as he lifts his other hand to the side of Mark’s face, letting the tips of his fingers play with thick black locks. “Don’t wait any longer,” he whispers urgently, and all he can do is gasp as Mark finally presses down upon him, love crashing over them like a wave as their lips connect for the first time.

“I love you, Donghyuck,” Mark tells him fervently, only laughing again when Donghyuck chokes in shock beneath him. “I love you, always.”

“And I- ”

Donghyuck glares as Mark takes in his mussed curls and swollen lips with a smirk, and shakes his head with a sigh. “And I love you, my most annoying, only love, Mark Lee.”

✺✳ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✳✺

Under the cherry blossom tree, Jaehyun finds a shiny black button in the pile of pale pink petals. He picks it up, studying it in his hand.

“Ah, Jungwoo,” he recalls the missing third button on the blonde demon’s shirt. He shakes his head, pocketing the button as he makes his way back to the front door.

Doyoung is there, stopping Jaehyun in his tracks.

“You can go,” Jaehyun gestures at the open gate. He‘d quite expected the demon to have bolted the moment Yuta had opened the door, yet evidently he hadn’t. Jaehyun knits his brows confusedly, unsure of the other man’s agenda.

Doyoung hums. He leans against the doorframe, looking away from Jaehyun and up to the stars above, smiling gently. Four years without night sky… or any, Doyoung supposes, is enough to drive one crazy. Hell was… well, exactly that. But Doyoung didn’t realise how badly he missed the sky and the wind on his cheeks until this moment.

He has a feeling that with Taeyong and Yuta- and perhaps all of their oddly mismatched group tonight- maybe Jungwoo won’t be so reckless anymore. And maybe Doyoung will be safe to enjoy the stars for a long time.

“I can go in the morning.”

Doyoung looks away from the stars and back to Jaehyun, finding the man staring back at him as his tousled brown curls float like a halo round his head. The way Jaehyun’s eyes are lit up, Doyoung sees the stars reflected in them a thousand times over.

“Tomorrow, huh?” Jaehyun closes the distance between them, his cheeks rounded all the more by his bright smile. “You don’t feel the need to hit up some midnight club and get wasted to celebrate your newfound freedom? Don’t wanna hire a hitman to take out Jungwoo?”

“Don’t tempt me,” Doyoung murmurs, hands sliding up Jaehyun’s chest to hook his fingers through his apron strings. He tugs him close, close enough that their breath mingles in the cold night air.

“I knew you hadn’t forgiven him,” Jaehyun says reprovingly. He struggles to keep a straight face, lips quirking up in a smile at the corner until Doyoung throws any restraint to the wind and kisses the faint dimple in his cheek, pulling away just enough to see it bloom completely. Doyoung moves his mouth from the dimple to the corner of Jaehyun’s lips, pressing faintly until Jaehyun’s smile becomes a laugh.

“So, how about it?” Doyoung asks, lifting a hand to cup Jaehyun’s jaw. “Can I stay?”

Jaehyun spins them around, backing them fully into the house with one hand behind him, blindly grabbing at the door handle to pull shut. When he succeeds, Doyoung pushes him up against the door, pinning the witch firmly in place until he answers.

“As long as you want,” Jaehyun grins, and Doyoung dives for his neck, “anything you want.”

He giggles as Doyoung comes back up for air a few moments later, dark eyes gazing into Jaehyun’s with complete seriousness.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope everyone found this a satisfying ending hehe <3 jungwoo was prob my favourite to write as usual but i had fun with all of them! 
> 
> if you liked this pls check out my other fics on this account, much love <3333


End file.
